"Quick, place a Cherry Bomb!"
"No, no, just put a Jalapeno here. It'll save you 25 suns."
Less than an hour into the game, Richard had already drawn a crowd of more than 20 people. Half of the game room's occupants were gathered around the computer screen, eagerly discussing the best plant placement strategies. By the time Richard reached level 19, he was getting flustered, eventually losing at level 25.
"Ah, what a pity."
"Richard, you idiot, we told you to put up a Wall-nut."
"Wait, get this guy out of here. He can't hog the computer all day."
"Dumbass, why are we crowding around one computer? William has the game on a CD; we can all play."
Realizing this, the interested students turned to William. "Mate, hand over the CD."
The CD was quickly grabbed by the fastest hands and began to be installed on one computer after another.
Watching the seasoned gamers eagerly play, William felt a wave of relief. It seemed that classics remained timeless, and strategy games had a dedicated fanbase in the West.
After spending two hours in the game room and seeing everyone engrossed in Plants vs. Zombies, even surprising some latecomers with the game's popularity, William finally felt a great sense of satisfaction.
Anyone smart enough to get into the University of London wasn't dumb. Many students' attitudes toward William changed after seeing his game.
Noticing it was almost noon, William walked to the blackboard wall in the game room and clapped his hands loudly. "Hey, guys, over here."
It took several calls for people to turn their attention away from the game. As avid gamers, they could tell when a game was good. Many already suspected that someone at their school was about to make it big.
Once more than half the room was looking at him, William began, "We all know games are designed for people to play, but the ultimate goal is pretty straightforward: to make money. So, I want to ask you all, if this game were sold for £5, would you buy it? Of course, as a thank you for your time, I'll give each of you a free game CD."
The crowd didn't take long to respond, their voices overlapping in a mix of enthusiasm.
"£5? I'd buy it for sure. Most popular games are at least £8."
"William, if it's £5, I'd buy four copies right now."
"No problem, £5 is a bargain."
Seeing that most were fine with a £5 price tag, with some even thinking it was too cheap, William felt more confident about his plan.
He clapped his hands again to quiet the room. "Guys, we're friends here. Many of you know my situation—I don't have much money and can't get a big game company to help promote my game. So, I came up with an idea. Let's see if any of you are interested."
Robert Carter, a friend from the law school, chimed in, "Hey, mate, spill it. I think your game has real potential. But if I were you, I'd register it first to avoid future trouble."
Robert, being Black, didn't care about William's mixed heritage. They had become friends after hanging out together through the club.
"Thanks, mate, but I already registered the copyright a few days ago—every copyright I could," William said.
Hearing this, some of the students who worked part-time for game companies or were their informants were visibly disappointed.
"I have the certificate. Since everyone seems okay with the £5 price, and many of you think it's a steal, I'll wholesale the game to you at £4 each. You can then sell it to your classmates or friends for £6. Does that sound good?"
The room erupted in chatter.
"That's a great idea! If that's the case, I'll place an order right now. Last time I bought an EPS game for £12, and it wasn't half as fun as this. I think I can sell 100 copies."
"Only 100? I bet I can sell 200 in my community alone. The kids there will go nuts for this game."
"Hey, Ryan, you marketing genius, why didn't I think of selling in communities? With so many neighborhoods in London, selling a few hundred copies and making some pocket money should be easy."
"Maybe we could apply for a demo area at school, set up a few laptops, and let our classmates try the game. If it catches on here, we could promote it to other universities. What do you think?"
"That's a great idea! We should form a sales team and start with our school. It won't cost much in terms of time or money. Anyone interested can come to me to sign up."
"Count me in. I want to join."
"Me too. We could use the club's name to apply to the school. If we apply now, we might get a response by tomorrow."
Listening to the enthusiastic discussions on how to promote the game, William was elated. In the end, over 50 people agreed to buy the game at £4 each and sell it for £6.
While William knew this price was somewhat low, the game's current obscurity made low-price promotion essential to build its reputation, which was more important than short-term profit.
Moreover, earning £3 per copy while getting over 50 people to promote it for free was a great deal. If some sold it for more, that would only boost enthusiasm.
Most of the students here were experienced gamers. Many had developed games before and could recognize a good game when they saw one.
William enlisted Robert and a few other top law students as legal advisors, offering them 25 game CDs each at a discounted rate.
After everyone discussed the terms and resolved all legal issues, William took down each person's name and the number of CDs they wanted.
Most were cautious, ordering only a few, but even the smallest order was ten CDs. Some marketing students ordered over 200 each.
After tallying up the requests, William was shocked to find the total was 1,050 CDs, averaging 20 per person.
When Robert and the others finished drafting the legal documents, they read them aloud to everyone.
William collected a £4 per CD deposit from everyone, promising to deliver the CDs within a week.
The going rate for CD pressing in London was well-known: £0.80 per CD for under 10,000 copies, £0.60 for 10,000-50,000, and £0.50 for over 50,000.
No one objected to the cost since they knew the worst-case scenario would still leave them with more money than they started with. Most were reasonable and focused on fair profits.
After everyone paid and signed the contracts, William excitedly held £4,200 in his hands—his first real funds since reincarnating. He couldn't believe how easy it had been to take this first step.
With the money in hand, William returned to his dorm, grabbed the master copy of the game, and hurried to a CD pressing company that had previously collaborated with the club.
Based on what he learned from the CD pressing company, they could produce under 10,000 CDs in less than three days. He had set a week as the delivery time just to be safe in case of unexpected delays.
William placed an order for 5,000 CDs for £4,000, keeping £200 plus his few hundred pounds in reserve to register a company over the next three days.
In England, anyone earning over £150,000 annually pays 50% in income tax, while businesses with profits over £300,000 only pay 26% in corporate tax, dropping to 24% after 2012.
So, registering a company was essential.
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